Internet connectivity enables access to social networking, personal finances, entertainment, news, shopping, and other essential goods, services, and information. With the proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, laptop computers, and other devices, there is a corresponding need to provide Internet connectivity to these mobile devices.
Currently, there is a diverse ecosystem of wireless broadband devices to provide Internet connectivity, including integrated and external mobile broadband cards, mobile hotspot devices, wireless routers, broadband modems, and others. Generally, such wireless broadband devices may provide WWAN (wireless wide area network) Internet access to other devices through a WLAN (wireless local area network) hotspot. For example, a device such as a smartphone can be configured to function as a mobile broadband hotspot by enabling an access point mode, often referred to as Wi-Fi tethering.
However, activating the access point mode of a mobile broadband hotspot often requires multiple steps. For example, to set a smartphone to access point mode, a user must typically obtain physical possession of the smartphone, navigate through a hierarchy of menu options, and set various security options and hotspot parameters prior to enabling the access point mode. Thus, it may be difficult to provide Internet access to other devices due to the numerous steps required for enabling an access point mode.